How to respond to pain

“No problem is so big or complicated that it cannot be run away from.” – Linus from The Peanuts

What do you do when you encounter pain? Do you imitate Linus and run away as fast as you can? Do you turn towards the pain?

Sheridan Voysey says that turning to face our pain is the only way to conquer it. Often when we encounter pain or hardship instead of dealing with it, we distract ourselves and hope it goes away. Unfortunately, this never works, it only serves to bury the pain and push it deeper inside of us.

“There’s so much spiritual longing out there, I see it everywhere I go. You go to the shopping center and you will find that it’s the new cathedral. We go to the shopping center to go buy a new identity to feel better about ourselves.”

This form of retail therapy is one of the many distractions that we use to fill the void of our spiritual longing.

“That’s giving ourselves an opportunity to run away from the problem that seems too big for us by going in and buying some food, a new dress, a new car, or whatever it might be to try and fill what is ultimately a spiritual longing.”

The first step to facing pain is to we have to admit that we have pain. Then we have to come to grips with the fact that the only way to overcome the pain is through Jesus Christ. Pain can be positive, if it brings us closer to God.

“Pain is what starts the spiritual journey. For some people it might be the pain of an aching heart, it may just be the pain of emptiness, there’s got to be something more to us, and if we face it, it can start to take us somewhere.”